More On The Downtown Transportation Study

On Friday, Greg ably covered the Downtown Transportation Study public consultation event in the Cornwall Centre. But I also dropped in on it and have a little more info to share.

In Greg’s post, commenter Ron asked if there was a way to view online the information presented at the consultation. I asked about that and the person I spoke to, a representative of IBI Group, the consultant hired to run this process, told me that he didn’t know. He said he thought there was supposed to be something on the city’s website. And he thought the URL would be something like regina.ca/DTS. But if you click that link, you’ll see that he was wrong.

So I phoned up the city to find out if there is a website about the Downtown Traffic Study that I missed somehow or if there were plans to put one up. I was told that people could send in their comments to [email protected] To which I replied that that wasn’t what I was asking. That I wanted to get a website where people could get some background info on the City Square plaza project so they aren’t commenting blind.

I’m still waiting to hear back if that info will be available on the city’s website.

As for commenting by email, you also, as far as I can tell, can’t download the comment sheet that was provided at the event. So, if you are interested in submitting your thoughts on the transportation study, I’m going to retype — with MY OWN FINGERS! — the information that I was handed. You’ll find it below the fold.

And I want to urge everyone who’s even slightly interested in this issue to send their thoughts in to the city. You can just cut and paste what I’ve typed below into your email and then fill it out. Emails go to [email protected] and have to be in by March 9.

Incidentally, I have to say I suspect I’m working against my own interest here. I sense that Reginans in general are in favour of keeping the plaza closed to traffic and by getting more people to participate in this survey I’m just playing into the development branch’s hand.

Personally, I think closing the plaza is madness. And I’ve already listed off some of my reasons for thinking that in the paper. In short, I’d argue keeping cars off that street creates an enormous deadzone and leaving things the way they are will be one more nail in the downtown’s coffin.

But, hey, that’s just my opinion. I’m sure the city is much more interested in hearing yours….

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DOWNTOWN TRANSPORTATION STUDY PHASE I
PUBLIC COMMENT FORM, MARCH 2012

The Downtown Transportation Study has just begun! The City will use this study to look at how to improve transportation conditions in Downtown Regina for all users, including those who walk, cycle, take transit, drive and make deliveries. We just started Phase 1 of the study; it focuses on the 11th Ave and 12th Ave corridors. Should City Square Plaza stay as a pedestrian mall? If not, how and when could it be opened to share with traffic? In Phase 1, we will recommend an operational plan for City Square Plaza in June. Phase 2 will begin and we’ll widen the study area to the rest of downtown.

Public consultation is an essential and ongoing part of this study. Please take a moment to share your ideas on the questions below. You may fill out this comment form and sent it in to [email protected] by March 9, 2012.

THE ALTERNATIVES
1. At a minimum, 12th Ave at the City Square Plaza will be closed to traffic during special events. We are considering alternatives that open it to traffic at other times. Among the three general alternatives for the 12th Ave corridor (remain pedestrian only, open as shared-space one-way, open as shared-space two-way), do you have a preferred alternative? If so, why?

2. Are there other general alternatives that you feel we have not yet considered? If yes, please let us know.

3. In the alternatives that 12th Ave would open to traffic, we will study which potential times it would be open to traffic. What times, days or periods of the year should be considered? (Eg. daytime, night time, off-peak hours, weekdays, weekend, school year, etc). Specify if these are more or less appropriate for shared-space.

THE CRITERIA
4. Are some criteria more important than others? If you think so, tell us which criteria are most important to you.

5. Are there other evaluation criteria for the 12th Ave corridor that we have not considered?

YOUR THOUGHTS
6. Any other comments or ideas? Tell us!

YOUR INFORMATION (Optional)
Would you like to receive updates about this study?

Name:
Email:

We will maintain your comments on file for use during this study and may include them in the study documentation. With the exception of personal information, all comments received will become part of the public record.

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Author: Paul Dechene

Paul Dechene is 5'10'' tall and he was born in a place. He's not there now. He's sitting in front of his computer writing his bio for this blog. He has a song stuck in his head. It's "Girl From Ipanema", thanks for asking.
You can follow Paul on Twitter at @pauldechene and get live updates during city council meetings and other city events at @PDcityhall.
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I just knew I could depend on Prairie Dog to supply some info re this ‘study’……$350,000 ???? All the City had to do was ask Paul and Greg, best study around. I too have been searching the CR website with no luck. Think I will just go to city hall, get down on my knees and beg them to reopen 12th ave. ANYTHING to get downtown traffic moving better.
Thanks Paul, Greg et al.

oops! I just sent my comments by email to the addresses above and got this back:

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

[email protected]
The recipient’s e-mail address was not found in the recipient’s e-mail system. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please check the e-mail address and try resending this message, or provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator.

if the plaza was open to traffic, especially two way traffic, you would not know where the ‘centre line’ is supposed to be

the only demarcation to date is little plastic reflectors that would be almost invisible to drivers when it’s not dark, and they are already chewed up by city snow scrapers or something

if two vehicles drove onto the plaza from opposite ends at the same time, driving towards each other, it would be a guess by both drivers as to where their actual lanes are supposed to be

i’ve been to cities all across canada, and a few in the states and europe, and there is nothing that compares with all the right angle roads of regina and other saskatchewan cities, not to mention grid roads; driving in a straight line is ingrained in motorists of southern saskatchewan

i suspect this eventually dawned on whoever decided to close the plaza to traffic; in fact, i think i saw them standing there one day

meanwhile, myself and a co-worker have both almost been struck by cars that were turning the corner at SGI north onto lorne from 11th, although we had the pedestrian light; there seems to be more traffic on 11th now and it is definitely more dangerous

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